You're Annoying
by Krile
Summary: Haseo would rather not have anything to do with the girl at all. However, she already had other plans... — Haseo, Tabby, a bit of romance if you squint.


_Disclaimer_: .hack belongs to Bandai, not me.

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_You're Annoying_

by Krile

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"No."

"Please?"

"Go away."

"Come on! Pleeease?"

"Leave me alone."

"Pretty please? Pretty pretty please with sugar on top?"

"..." He stopped, turning to look at her as if she grew an extra head. Seeing this, she stopped, as well, confusion apparent on her features.

"What," the aforementioned girl questioned, "is there something on my face?" She began looking herself over, pawing at her face in an almost cat-like manner.

"...You're not going to stop being annoying, are you," he spoke, his tone deadpan.

"Nyaaa, Haseo!" she whined. "Am I really that annoying?"

"Yes."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Meanie!"

Haseo shrugged, beginning to walk away from her again.

"Wait!" She ran up to him. "I'm serious about my offer. _Please_ won't you consider? I'll... I'll try not to be 'annoying', as you put it!"

An eyebrow was raised. He was not convinced. "And what's so important about this, anyway? Can't you level with someone else?"

She shook her head vigorously. "Nu-uh!" She emphasized her point by counting on each finger. "Master Sakisaka isn't logged in right now, Miss Shino already had other plans, and I don't even _know_ where Ovan is. So..."

"...So..."

"...So that leaves you, Haseo!" She smiled, her feline features appearing even more obvious.

Haseo didn't bother trying to hide his disdain. "Forget it. Level by yourself if you're so desperate."

"No!" She quickly moved in front of him, afraid he would log out in front of her. Again. "I can't level alone! ...I mean, I don't _want_ to," she corrected herself, looking down with a hint of sadness in her voice. "It's not safe to travel alone, you know..." She raised her head to see him actually regarding her for a moment, a serious look on his face, before jerking away again, gritting his teeth.

"Plus," she continued, mustering up her usual perkiness, "I don't really know anyone else to level with, or really any good leveling spots besides the ones Master Sakisaka showed me, and-"

"Fine."

His sudden interruption caught the cattish grappler by surprise. "H-huh?"

Haseo sighed deeply, closing his eyes. "It's obvious you're not going to stop bothering me about this, even if I log out, right?" A meek nod was his answer. "So... I'll level with you." He folded his arms across his chest. "_If_ you promise to leave me alone after, got it?"

Her face lit up all at once. "Yes! Oh, yes! Thank you so much! You won't regret it, Haseo!" She jumped up happily, but not so much as to scare her new leveling partner off before they even got started. "Besides, us newbies have to stick together, right?" She winked playfully at him.

Haseo rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh, whatever. So where exactly do you..."

"Tabby."

"Huh?"

She wagged a finger in front him. "It's Tabby. T-A-B-B-Y. The least you could do is call me by name for once! Especially now that we're leveling partners!" She said this last part in glee.

"Don't get used to it."

Tabby grinned. "Oh, believe me, I won't! But you can't just call out 'hey, you!' if I'm dying or you need my help or something, you know?"

"I guess," he grumbled, refusing to look her in the eye.

The catgirl tilted her head to the side to meet his unwavering gaze at the ground in response. "So, it's settled! Let's go, Haseo!"

Haseo backed away from her piercing look a little, feeling more than a little uncomfortable. "Yeah, uh..."

His unlikely leveling partner continued staring at him, a hopeful smile on her face.

"...Tabby," he finally uttered, under his breath.

The low, reluctant mutter of her name didn't phase the girl in the slightest. "Yay, you said it!" She swiftly moved forward, giving the multi-weapon a peck on the cheek. "Thank you," she said earnestly, her cheeks slightly pink, before running off ahead of him.

"..."

"Last one at the gates is a level one 'newbie'!" Tabby called from behind her, waving him along as she made a dash towards her desired location.

Haseo stood there, stunned, watching her disappear beyond the nearby ledges, a hand placed on his "assaulted" cheek as if it burned.

"...What the hell have I gotten myself into...?"

_fin?_

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_Author's Note_: Just a little one-shot featuring the least likely "pair" you'll ever see in the .hack/Roots universe. Haseo and Tabby clash like night and day. Haseo doesn't even _like_ Tabby. But Tabby worries about him sometimes anyway. That's why I wrote this.

Is this a pairing fic? Not really, but I'd like to leave the assumption up to the reader; if anything, it's just a deeper development of their extremely awkward relationship.

This story doesn't really take place during any of the events of the anime, except it obviously takes place before the halfway point, and after Tabby experienced her first PK. Just think of this as a lighthearted fic that takes place nowhere in particular; just something to lighten up all the current angst that's in the show.

I might make a drabble series out of this, I might not. What do you guys think? Let me know!


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